Duceppe brushes off big question: What can Bloc really do?

MONTREAL – Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe says his party will be around until Quebecers vote for sovereignty — or voters decide it isn’t needed anymore.

“Not only is it good for Quebecers, but it is good for Canadians, too,” Duceppe said.

“It’s a big country, and I bring a point of view that isn’t being heard by the federalists.”

Duceppe has spent the first part of the week in a flurry of media interviews, in which all the commentators have the same question: why should Quebecers vote for a party that will never govern, even in a minority coalition?

In an interview Monday morning with Montreal radio host Paul Arcand, Duceppe said only the Conservatives and the Liberals have a realistic chance of forming the next federal government.

Yet he dismissed suggestions that after 20 years in opposition, the BQ has worn out its welcome with Quebec voters.

“We are younger than all the other parties,” Duceppe said. “Measure the success of the federalist parties. NDP has been around for 50 years and the others since the 1867 and Quebec still hasn’t signed the Constitution.”